Insider Selling: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) Insider Sells 20,000 Shares of Stock

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insider Christopher K. Cox sold 20,000 shares of Meta Platforms stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $557.52, for a total transaction of $11,150,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 338,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,810,838.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Meta Platforms Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:META traded up $3.06 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $564.41. 12,812,360 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,664,488. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $507.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $497.28. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $279.40 and a twelve month high of $573.98.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Meta Platforms’s payout ratio is currently 11.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. S.A. Mason LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC grew its position in Meta Platforms by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 371 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $187,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its position in Meta Platforms by 2.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,057 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Meta Platforms by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 647 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 5.1% in the second quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 433 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Meta Platforms from $480.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $545.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $578.92.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.